Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Michael Douglas to Receive Eugene O'Neill's Monte Cristo Award

our editor recommendsTom Cruise Fans at Indian 'Mission Impossible' Premiere Weren't Paid, Says ParamountFacebook and NHL On Board 'Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol' Promotion Paramount Pictures and Coke Zero present the Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocolmovie premiere from Rio de Janeiro. Watch as star and producer Tom Cruise along with co-star Paula Patton and director Brad Bird walk the red carpet and field questions from fans via the Livestream chat. Grammy nominated DJ & producer Tiesto will also be on hand to perform his new re-mix of the famed theme song. Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol: Film Review The live stream starts at 4:00 p.m.ET/1:00 p.m. on Wednesday December 14th. The movie opens in IMAX and other select locations beginning Friday December 16th and nationwide on December 21st, 2011. VIDEO:Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol: Girl Fight Clip PHOTO GALLERY: View Gallery 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol' Dubai Premiere Red Carpet Arrivals Related Topics J.J. Abrams Jeremy Renner Paula Patton Tom Cruise Simon Pegg Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Monday, December 12, 2011

Anastasia Griffith To Co-Star In BBC Americas Drama Series Copper

EXCLUSIVE: Anastasia Griffith, who recurs on ABC’s Not Such A Long Time Ago, has showed up the feminine lead in BBC America’s first scripted series, drama Copper. The Ten-episode series, from Tom Fontana and Craig Levinson, is produced by Canadian-based Cineflix Art galleries. Co-created by Tom Fontana and Will Rokos, Copper concentrates on an Irish cop operating inside the immigrant cities of 1800s NY, employment that's not cast yet. British actress Griffith, repped by Paradigm, Untitled and Uk’s Ken McReddie Assoc., may have his wife. Fontana, Rokos, Craig Levinson and Cineflix’s Christina Wayne are executive creating the series, that's slated to begin production within the finish from the month of the month of january. Griffith, who plays a girl locked in to a love triangular with Snow White-colored and Prince Charming on Not Such A Long Time Ago, continues to be recurring on USA’s Royal Pains. She formerly co-starred on NBC’s Trauma and Foreign exchange’s Damages.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Scripps Networks Sees Business Stabilizing As Economy Improves: UBS Confab

It’s not a leading economic indicator. But Scripps Networks CEO Kenneth Lowe says that programming on his cable channel HGTV “had to be turned on its head” when the housing bubble burst a few years ago. Viewers suddenly wanted to know how to flip their house, not just how to make it beautiful. But things are changing, he hopes: “As we slowly build the housing market back, it will have a positive effect on HGTV.” So will improvements at the network’s popular show House Hunters, where ratings have softened. “Stabilization is the key word” for that show, Lowe says. That concept is important for all of Scripps’ lifestyle-focused services.When it comes to advertising, “we’re not seeing a lot of things to be concerned about, but we’re watching along with the rest of the industry,” says Lori Hickok, EVP Finance. Lowe’s upbeat, though, because he says Scripps’ channels are “the female equivalent of ESPN.They’re must-have. … The passion and connection that female viewers have for these networks is second to none.” Even among those viewers,Scripps saw a shift last year to sports programming, which Lowe says “was a little unusual.” He attributes that to the growing appeal of live shows. “The good news for us is we’re not seeing any (more) loss to sports programming. It is what it is.” Meanwhile, the company says ithopes to buy Tribune’s 31% stake in Food Network once the media company is no longer under bankruptcy protection. Lowe also plans to build the Travel Channel. “I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited about a new channel in quite a while,” he says adding that it “could be up with Food and HGTV in a few years.” But he has a lot of work to do at Great American Country as he moves it away from country music videos and toward programs that feature NASCAR and rodeos. “The network is relevant,” he says. “We’re going to research the living country brand, but it has its limitations.” The channel is distributed to 62.8M pay TV homes, and operators only pay about 3 cents a month for each home it reaches, SNL Kagan estimates.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Keith Olbermann Won't Tweet You Back

Matt Carr/Getty Images Nicolas Cage's nearly-pristine copy ofAction Comics No. 1 featuring the initial appearance of Superman offered for just about any record $2,161,000 inside an online auction marketplace marketplace that ended Wednesday.our editor recommendsNicolas Cage 'Vampire' Photo On eBayNic Cages Stolen Superman Comic Poised to destroy Auction Record It is the first comic to promote more than $2 million at auction. The last record was $1.5 million for just about any less well-maintained copy of Action Comics No. 1 offered in March 2010. PHOTOS: Comic-Book Figures In Dispute Cage's comic was stolen from his home in 2000 and merely retrieved in April when a mystery guy bought the products within an abandoned La storage locker. Handful of comics have as interesting or complicated a back story as Cage's copy ofAction Comics No. 1. Licensed Guaranty Company, the important thing grader from the standard of collectible comics, recently designated this copy a grade of 9., which causes it to be the finest freely-ranked copy of Superman's first appearance. Roughly 100 copies ofAction Comics No. 1 remain around. PHOTOS: Finest Hollywood Splurges Experts believe a maximum of five others, all in private hands, are of near-equal quality to Cage's copy and merely one -- the legendary "Edgar Chapel Collection" copy, which has never been freely seen -- might exceed it. Cage's Action Comics No. 1 first created a stir when an obscure collector introduced it to public attention by consigning it to auction at Sotheby's in 1992. The sudden appearance from the formerly unknown high-grade copy of those an important comic can be a rare occurrence. Sotheby's offered it for just about any then-record $82,500.Cage bought in 1997 for approximately $150,000. Around The month of the month of january 21, 2000, Cage reported the comic stolen for the La Police, along with high-grade copies of Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics No. 27 and Marvel Mystery No. 71. According to anaccountComicconnect Boss StephenFishler released around the collector's website, Cage had the books displayed in security frames mounted for the wall. PHOTOS: Hollywood's Riches to Rags: 18 Stars Who've Dropped Everything The particular moment in the robbery is unknown nevertheless the comics had possibly been missing for just about any week when Cage discovered the frames were empty. TheMarvel Mysteryresurfaced a few several days later nevertheless the other two comics ongoing to become lost. In April 2011, Cage's copy ofAction Comics No. 1 was retrieved in the San Fernando Valley storage locker. The man who found the comic had bought the products within an abandoned locker. Cage's publicist released a disagreement within the actor in those days calling the recovery in the comic "divine providence" and showing hope "the heirloom will probably be returned to my family members.Inch Cage had received a coverage payment for your comic but in those days expressed fascination with reaching funds to revive possession in the book. The missingDetective Comics No. 27 has not been found. Fishler wouldn't confirm this really is really the experience Comics stolen from Cage but theprovenanceof the comic -- in the purchase at the begining of the 19 nineties towards the robbery in 2000 -- matches a history in the Cage comic. Comicconnect is selling it for your current owner, that's still considered to become Cage. Earlier, several websites devoted to comicsspeculatedthat this really is really the copy of Action Comics from Cage's collection. Reps for Cage did not respond to a request fromThe Hollywood Reporterfor comment. No matter the record cost for Cage's copy other Superman memorabilia fetched more modest prices. For people considering having a little of history, single pagesfromAction Comics No. one out of fair condition may be had for approximately $300 then one of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel's "favorite t t shirts"offered only for $51. The policy in the fabled CageAction Comics No. 1 is below. Nicolas Cage

Alice Eve in Talks for big Role in New 'Star Trek' Film

Alice Eve is at discussions for just about any significant role in Vital's second installment in the J.J. Abrams-shepherded The Exorcist reboot.our editor recommendsParamount's 'Star Trek' Follow-up to start May 17, 2013Alice Eve Cast in 'Decoding Annie Parker''Entourage's' Vanity Fair Story: How Real Maybe It Had Been? The studio's 2009 The Exorcist reimagination will be a hit, grossing greater than $380 million worldwide. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are slated to reprise their unique roles of Kirk and Spock. PHOTOS: Hollywood's New Leading Ladies The untitled follow-up is positioned to start May 17, 2013. Abrams is again pointing and creating through his Bad Robot shingle the script is fromRoberto Orci, Alex Kurtzmanand Damon Lindelof. Eve might well be most broadly known on her behalf winning submit the best season of Cinemax's Entourage many other credits include Sex as well as the City 2 and he or she's From My League. She's presently filming the indie Decoding Annie Parker, which stars Helen Search and Samantha Morton. Little is well known in regards to the Eve's character past the role is essential. The NY Publish first reportednews of Eve's casting.Vital declined to comment. Eve is represented by UTA, the U.K.'s Artist Rights Group and Untitled Entertainment. Email: Daniel.Burns@THR.com Twitter: @DanielNMiller Related Subjects Vital Pictures

Monday, November 21, 2011

NBC Buys Jim Henson Cos Hybrid Human-Puppet Family Comedy

On the eve of the new Muppets movie opening on Wednesday, the Jim Henson Co. has set up another hybrid human-puppet project, this time on primetime TV. NBC has closed a script deal for The New Nabors, a comedy about a human family and the repercussions they encounter living next door to a family of puppets. NBC, of course, had success in the human-puppet family sitcom arena with Alf in the late 1980s. Feature writer John Hoffman (Fox 2000′s Afterlife) and 30 Rock executive producer John Riggi will write the script for The New Nabors, which they developed with Lisa Henson and The Jim Henson Co. (I hear the spelling of the show’s title is an homage to actor-singer Jim Nabors.) Lisa Henson, Hoffman and Riggi are executive producing, with longtime Henson producer Alex Rockwell also attached. CAA-repped Hoffman and UTA-repped Riggi are managed by Anonymous. Puppets have been off the major broadcast networks for awhile, with Fox’s underrated single-camera comedy Greg The Bunny as the most recent example.

Anthony Hopkins, Judi Dench eye 'Italian Shoes'

LONDON -- Anthony Hopkins and Judi Dench will be in talks for your lead roles in "Italian Shoes," which Kenneth Branagh will direct. The project is founded on the novel by Swedish author Henning Mankell, getting a script by Richard Cottan. It's the story from the outdated surgeon living around the remote island in Sweden, who's expected to confront his past mistakes when he's reunited by getting a classic flame. The film will start shooting toward the conclusion of 2012 or possibly in 2013, according to when the two veteran British stars are available. Branagh told Daily Variety the project is "tailor-made" for Hopkins and Dench, and contains been developed together in your head. "The nuance, delicacy and flavor is actually good perfect casting," he mentioned. Their casting, he mentioned, "uses my extended relationship with all of them.In . Hopkins starred in Branagh's "Thor," while Dench appears alongside Branagh in "My Week With Marilyn." Dench has formerly labored with with Branagh many occasions on-screen and also on stage. He directed her on film in "Henry V" and "Hamlet," through which more youthful crowd carried out the title roles. They came out together inside the telepic "Ghosts," and Dench directed Branagh on stage inside the Renaissance Theater productions of "Much Ado About Nothing" and "Try Looking In Anger." "Italian Shoes" continues to be created through the U.K.'s Left Bank Pictures and Sweden's Yellowbird, which co-produce the British-language TV series based on Mankell's "Wallander" detective books. Branagh might be the star and professional producer in the series, that's presently shooting its third season in northern Sweden. "Italian Shoes" is among three development projects that Branagh is related just like a director. He's also installed on "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society," scripted by Don Roos for Fox 2000, that's not been cast, and "The Boys inside the Boat" for your Weinstein Co., which has yet to announce a author. Branagh switched lower the purchase to direct "Thor 2" because of what he describes as "timing issues." Contact the number newsroom at news@variety.com

Chris Harrison States New Game Demonstrate Deserve It's not In regards to the Money

Chris Harrison The Bachelor host Chris Harrison will get a refresher course which it's would rather debut a completely new show. "I have not had this in the very very long time," according to him in regards to the Monday premiere of his game demonstrate Deserve It (9/8c, ABC). "I have got a totally new demonstrate that nobody understands and i'm wishing people watch." A classical trivia show getting a heartwarming and non-profit Extreme Transformation: Home Edition- type element, You Deserve It features one contestant per episode trying to win money for an individual inside their existence whom they'd would rather reward. Inside the premiere, Stacey plays to win cash on her nearest friend, a parent or gaurdian of two who recently lost her husband. "There's a minute inside the premiere episode when she's grinding, the puzzles take time and effort, she's beneath the lights, there is lots pressure and he or she realizes, 'Oh my God, I came here to change my friend's existence and i'm really going to accomplish this.A It's this relieve emotion once we understood the concept labored," according to him. Because the competitor shelves up money through five types of action with Harrison, Brooke Burns delays while using prize-money recipient's pals and family for your reveal. "There's that Publisher's Clearing House moment that you run in and there's tears and pleasure," according to him. "This kind of person incredibly strong and possess persevered and they've encounter some hard occasions and so the people around them desire to hands back and provide them a rest.In . Harrison thinks that regardless if you are interested in game shows, reality television or neither, you'll savor You Deserve It. "There's no antagonist, you just root everyone on and require everybody well, [and] it's all the elements that you might want: It's dramatic and entertaining and significant," according to him. "It's in regards to the story as well as the people and a smaller amount about the sport as well as the money." Watch a clip from Monday's premiere below:

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

First Brave Trailer Promises Breathtaking Pixar Fairy Tale

Welcome to fairy tale trailer week! Yesterday, Movieline previewed Mirror, Mirror, Tarsem Singh’s hammy Snow White adaptation which features Julia Roberts as a ineffectively evil queen who worries about age lines and financial security (just like you!). Today, Pixar has unveiled a full-length trailer for the company’s first foray into fairy tale territory, the much more promising Brave. Unlike yesterday’s Mirror, Mirror, which drove some inventive commenters to customize a drinking game just to get through the two minute preview, Brave seems like it will be an inspiring, heartwarming and fairly original story told via Pixar’s gorgeous 3-D computer animation. The story centers on Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald), a Scottish princess and brave archer who upends tradition in her kingdom, only to unleash chaos and fury to those around her. To undo these consequences, Merida must learn the meaning of true bravery. Julie Walters, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Kevin McKidd and Craig Ferguson also provide voices in the Mark Andrews-directed picture, set to premiere June 22. [Apple]

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Media Saved at Distance as NY Police Apparent Occupy Wall Street Encampment

NY - In the surprise overnight move, police here on early Tuesday removed out Zuccotti Park in downtown Manhattan where Occupy Wall Street protesters happen to be camped out for approximately two several days.our editor recommendsThe Scene at Occupy Wall Street'Occupy Wall Street Hollywood': Artists On Scene of Protests The raid happened as journalists trying to pay for the large event were saved far and often were treated strongly, in line with the Huffington Publish. Most reporters were barred from getting too near the action, it mentioned. While using the Twitter hashtag "#mediablackout," some journalists tweeted that that police had blocked them from seeing the thing that was happening or had socialized strongly, in line with the Huffington Publish. PHOTOS: 'Occupy Wall Street Hollywood': Artists On Scene of Protests Some reporters were among people arrested by police, it mentioned. NPR freelance writer Julie Master tweeted: "was arrested covering #ows as npr freelance writer. thnx to all or any for your concern. am from jail." NY Occasions author John Stelter tweeted: "I'm w/ a NY Publish reporter who states he was defaced by riot police as Zuccotti was removed." Mayor Mike Bloomberg mentioned in the news conference early Tuesday that about 200 people who didn't apparent the park as bought by mother and father been arrested incorporated within the raid. More youthful crowd acknowledged that media happen to be saved far. He reported concerns about medical health insurance and fire safety hazards for the protestors also to the encompassing community as reasons for the eviction. PHOTOS: The Scene at Occupy Wall Street In line with the NY Occasions, an connect in the NY City Council mentioned via Twitter that uncle Ydanis Rodriguez happen to be hurt and arrested throughout police force operation to apparent Zuccotti Park. On Monday in Concord, Calif., police had raided the main Occupy Wall Street encampment there, arresting 33 people. Protesters returned later inside the day, but police mentioned they wouldn't be allowed to relaxation there any more. Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com Twitter: @georgszalai Related Subjects Occupy

Monday, November 14, 2011

Three Youthful Adult Clips Hit The Web

More clips from Reitman's latest Youthful Adult reunites Jason Reitman with Juno author Diablo Cody, getting Charlize Theron along for your ride too.Playing a children's novel ghost author referred to as MavisGary, Theron reaches play a thirty something "psycho bitch" returning home tosnatch away her secondary school love from beneath the nose of his wife and newborn child.For further proof of her bitchiness, have a look at these three clips Reitman and co. have released to help you get searching toward the film, beginning served by that certain from Moviefone:Supported by that certain from Perez Hilton:And finally that certain, that's only situated on Apple's trailer site.As people people who was simply watching the whole trailer for Youthful Adult over and over well as over might have already observed, plenty of that which you see throughout these three clips is seen mashed altogether inside the full trailer, it is therefore not brand-new, but it is, you understand, new. With techniques.YoungAdult arrives on British screens on February 10, and may receive plenty of Oscar attention, knowing by its designers previous form...

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Rankings: Terra Nova Up, Dancing Rebounds

Jason O'Mara, Shelley Conn On Monday evening, Terra Nova attracted 7.67 million audiences along with a 2.6 rating among 18-to-49-year-olds, up 16 percent in audiences as well as an impressive 24 percent within the demo, Nielsen's fast overnights show. However the real champion Monday evening was Dwts, calculating 18.02 million and three.3 demo rating Up 18 percent over last week's series low - over two hrs beginning at 8/7c. Within the same span, NBC's The Sing-Off drawn in 4.20 million (1.5). Read our Dwts recap Also rebounding per week after trick-or-treaters drawn their parents away from home, House known as on 7.54 million people (2.7, up 8 percent) at 9/8c. In prime time's final hour, viewership for that second outing of Rock Center with John Williams rejected to three.51 million from 4.13 million, while keeping single. demo rating. For that eighth straight week from the year, Castle nabbed probably the most audiences within the final hour of Monday's prime time - 11.27 million versus. 9.95 million for CBS' Hawaii Five-, which won demo fight, 3. to two.5. Browse the relaxation from the day's news on TVGuide.com For the CBS comedy block: The Way I Met Your Mother (10.36 million/4.4 demo rating) 2 Broke Women (11.34 million/4.5) 2 . 5 Males (14.52 million/5.1)) and Mike & Molly (11.99 million/4.2). Around The CW, Gossip Girl came 1.27 million (.6) and Hart of Dixie 1.39 million (.6).

Friday, November 4, 2011

Rhianna to complete Thanksgiving Special With Katie Couric

Rhianna, Katie Couric This Thanksgiving, Rhianna may be the eye-opening antidote to an excessive amount of poultry and wine. The pop star and Katie Couric will sit lower for any 90-minute holiday special, A Really Gaga Thanksgiving, that will air Thursday, November. 24 at 9:30/8:30c on ABC, the network introduced Thursday. Lifetime apparently creating a Rhianna biopic "Everyone knows Rhianna is really a phenomenon," stated Couric. "This can be a opportunity to see much more of who she's underneath the wild costumes and staged musical amounts ... Rhianna like a senior high school student still bruised when you are excluded in the party, Rhianna like a devoted daughter and caring sister, Rhianna like a 25-year-old lady adopting fame and fortune that appeared in the future overnight. She'll impress you, delight you and also surprise you." Aside from the sit-lower interview, the special will feature eight Gaga performances, including "The Advantage of Glory," "We,A "Marry the Evening" and "Whitened Christmas." Browse the relaxation of present day news It can't be Thanksgiving without some eats, so Gaga will placed on an apron and, by using chef Art Cruz, prepare deep-fried poultry and waffles on her visitors. What, no stuffed and roasting little monsters? Are you going to create a Very Gaga Thanksgiving a part of your holiday routine this season?

Thursday, November 3, 2011

The Secrets of Hollywood Agency Mailrooms

This story appears in the Nov. 11 issue of The Hollywood Reporter.our editor recommendsNext Gen 2011: Hollywood's Fastest-Rising StarsSecrets of Hollywood Agency Mailrooms Is the next David Geffen here? He started in an agency mailroom, as have countless moguls, as THR introduces today's apprentices. CAA Forget Harvard Business School. If you're looking to meet the next generation of Hollywood players, there's no better place to search than a talent agency mailroom. Countless moguls began their careers pushing a steel cart down a hallway, which is still considered the best way to learn the ins and outs of show business. Today's mailroomers are a far cry from the lower-middle-class NY kids who created the pay-your-dues ethos that permeates the agencies to this day. They're hyper-educated, ultraprofessional and fully aware of the opportunities their jobs provide. CAA, for instance, extends its culture of steely professionalism to its mailroom program. The agency, founded in 1975 by a group of ambitious William Morris agents -- Michael Ovitz, Ron Meyer, Mike Rosenfeld, William Haber and Rowland Perkins -- still requires strict attention to detail, as well as the traditional suit and tie (or business attire for women, who now join the mailroom in almost equal numbers). And the program is open-ended, meaning you get out when you're good enough. The competition is so stiff that trainees must work as an assistant for a year before even starting the program. PHOTOS: Behind the Scenes of Hollywood Agency Mailrooms In the Mailroom: Chelsea McKinnies, 28 The Bloomington, Minn., native studied drama and English literature at NY University and upon graduation in 2005 tried her hand as an actress. Three years later, McKinnies decided to delve into the business side of the industry and began working at CAA's NY office. After stints as an assistant in the theater and motion picture talent departments, the latter of which landed her with Dianne McGunigle (who focuses on comedy), McKinnies joined the mailroom program in June. She knows what her focus will be. "Comedy for me is very exciting," she says, "because most of the individuals that do comedy are self-generating. They have a spark that I feel, if nurtured properly, lends itself to a long-term career." Clarissa Reformina, 25 Even before graduating from Boston University in 2008, the upstate NY native had a handful of music business internships under her belt, including stints at NY radio station Z100 and Sony BMG. Until she began the mailroom training program in August, Reformina served as assistant to CAA music agent Mark Cheatham, starting in June 2008 in NY. She'd like to continue on the music track. Reformina says she's enjoying her time in Los Angeles and connecting with other trainees. "I wouldn't even call them colleagues anymore," she says. "I would call them friends." STORY: Next Generation 2011: Agents Alumni Peter Micelli, TV Packaging and Literary Agent Micelli grew up in a family that loved hard pears and apples, so he picked some up during his daily 5:15 a.m. grocery run for the office. "An agent called down to the mailroom and said, 'Who the F is buying the hard fruit?' You realize in that moment, there is a challenge to a one-size-fits-all mentality. You have to make people feelheard and happy." Jim Toth, Co-Head of Motion Picture Talent "The first Friday, on the way home, I bought one of those Dr. Scholl's foot massagers. My feet were killing me," Toth told author David Rensin for his book The Mailroom. "I wondered if the knee surgery I'd had because of high school football might prevent me from becoming an agent. I admit it -- it actually crossed my mind." Related Topics Michael Ovitz Ron Meyer CAA UTA ICM 1 2 3 4 next last

Skyfall Confirmed As Title Of New Bond Movie; Budget Around $230M; Sam Mendes Says Hes Open To Follow-up

Shooting on the latest James Bond movie starts Monday, Daniel Craig revealed at this mornings press conference for Skyfall, the 23rd 007 movie. Producer Michael G Wilson scotched UK tabloid rumours that the budget for the latest Bond film has been slashed by $100 million. Were in the same budget range as the last film. We havent had to change anything in the script. In fact, we keep adding things everything is going to be just as it was, he said. Director Sam Mendes also denied he was making a downbeat Bond with fewer action sequences. He would be directing action sequences himself. There will be plenty of surprises, Mendes promised. The action needs to be balanced with the drama. Mendes said he was open to directing another Bond installment, if I still feel that its as much fun in 6 months time then the answer is yes. Mendes, Broccoli and others were giving little away at this mornings presser: In Skyfall, Bonds loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her; MI6 comes under attack, and Bond must track down and destroy the threat. While confirming Deadline’s scoop that Javier Bardem would play the villain, Mendes was coy as to whether Bardem would be playing Blofeld, as screenwriter John Logan has hinted. What is known is that Skyfall will be mostly shot mostly around Whitehall, London (the government district), Scotland, Istanbul and China. Eon Productions used this mornings event to unveil latest Bond girl Brnice Marlohe, playing a character called Severine. Other cast members confirmed include Albert Finney, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris, playing a secret agent named Eve. Sony will release Skyfall in North America on November 9 2012, following its UK/Ireland premiere on October 26. The Academy Award-winning director said he wanted to do Bond because hed been a fan since going to see Live and Let Die in the cinema. Plus I thought that Daniel playing Bond opened up all sorts of fantastic opportunities for the character, he said. Broccoli would not comment on speculation that Brit pop star Adele will sing the theme song: Weve been considering various people for the theme tune, she said. Mendes added that Skyfall was not a continuation of the previous 2 Bond outings, which had a running storyline. Broccoli also revealed that Daniel Craig would be playing Bond for at least one more time. Personally I cant help but feel Skyfall is a lame title for a James Bond movie; even Everything Or Nothing, a James Bond videogame title would be better.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Black Donnellys' Jonathan Tucker Heading to Parenthood

Jonathan Tucker The Black Donnellys alum Jonathan Tucker has landed a multi-episodic arc on Parenthood, TVGuide.com has confirmed. He'll play Bob Little, Kristina's former intern-turned-political candidate who hires Kristina (Monica Potter) to help run his campaign. Kristina will also hire Amber (Mae Whitman) to assist Little, who's described as "frighteningly young and attractive." Hmmm. A possible love connection? Check out the rest of today's news Tucker, who has also appeared on Royal Pains, The Ruins and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, will first appear in Episode 11. Parenthood airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.

Exclusive: 90210's Big Bash Is Outasight!

AnnaLynne McCord, Outasight 90210 will be partying hard when Outasight performs in a December episode, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively. For Naomi (AnnaLynne McCord), there's good and bad news. First, the good: Naomi scores an internship. The bad: Her new boss turns out to be someone close to archnemesis Holly (Megalyn Echikunwoke), who enlists Naomi to plan Holly's birthday bash - where the "Tonight is the Night" singer will be performing. Exclusive: Vampire Diaries' Arielle Kebbel to recur on 90210 The episode in which Outasight is slated to appear also marks the first appearance of Vampire Diaries alum Arielle Kebbel. As TVGuide.com first reported, Kebbel will play Vanessa, a charismatic, edgy and vivacious former bad girl who still enjoys a little risk-taking now and again. Jersey Shore's Vinny, who makes his first appearance in next week's show, will also appear in this episode (for which an exact date isn't set). 90210 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Top Foreclosure Firms Homeless-Themed Halloween Party Pictures Spark Controversy on Internet

The story goes like this: NY's largest foreclosure law firm, Steven J. Baum, held it's big annual Halloween party last year, as they do every year the Friday before October 31. Nearly a year later, a former employee sent photos from the party to NY Times columnist Joe Nocera. But unlike most Halloween costume parties, this one sparked anger: the pictures depict what appears to be a "homeless" theme, with employees at the Buffalo-based firm apparently mocking the very homeowners their law firm targets with foreclosure.our editor recommendsMedia Releases Photos of Bank of America, Wells Fargo Foreclosure Firm's Homeless Themed Halloween BashAnn Curry's $2.9 Million NYC Brownstone Occupied by Homeless SquatterSee Pictures of Nicolas Cage's Foreclosed Las Vegas MansionHollywood Docket: Another Way To View the Foreclosure Mess STORY: Media Releases Photos of Bank of America, Wells Fargo Foreclosure Firm's Homeless Themed Halloween Bash For example, in the pictures, one woman is seen wearing a cardboard sign that reads, "3rd party squatter. I lost my home and I was never served." According to the unnamed source, the sign is meant to reflect "the typical excuse" of homeowners attempting to avoid a foreclosure proceeding. Bill Haydon, who says his income puts him in the top 1%, commented on the pictures, "I get it that sometimes attorneys need to do unpleasant things. To, however, take such mindless pleasure in it, to revel in other people's misery...to essentially wallow in it like pigs...is beyond the pale of basic human decency." "I fault the banks for lending money to people that were clearly unqualified, and for the deceptive practices that were often used," A.S. in North Carolina wrote in response to the NY Times column. "I also fault the borrowers that were blind to the risks and overextended themselves. But I also understand that many people now facing foreclosure are the collateral damage of a corrupt, dysfunctional and unregulated system, people that lost their jobs or retirement savings due to the recession." At the end of the day, to show such callousness and lack of empathy to people who are losing their homes is disgusting, especially when you are most likely in contact and dealing with them every day," A.S. continues. "No matter what the reason for foreclosure, it can only be a very painful and scary process for those going through it. For the Baum firm to treat it as a joke leaves me speechless. PHOTOS: Halloween Gone Wrong: 10 Least Scary Films of All Time Tom, in Boston, seemed to be one of the few who cut some slack for the employees pictured. "The photos are in bad taste but, as it was intended only as an inside joke, I think we need to keep things in context," he wrote on the NYT comment board. "This picture was never meant for the greater public's view." A commenter on a Gawker article by the username gt99tg also saw things from the perspective of the Steven J. Baum firm. "This is how they cope with being the 'bad guys.' Their costumes are totally insensitive and offensive. But keep in mind that a lot of people being foreclosed on were purchasing 5bd 4bath houses and making $20k a year. Yet we make people like Baum employees and banks to be the bad guys even in those situations when those types of homeowners SHOULD be foreclosed on. There are lots of just and unjust foreclosures out there." Ryan Atkins says his family was at one point homeless, and finds fault in the employees' costumes that depict the foreclosed as uneducated. "In fact, my dad was working towards his doctorate degree at the time we were homeless for that short period of time. Hardly uneducated," he writes. "I didn't know that the foreclosed homeless were so dirty? Really? They carry booze around in a paper bag? Right! That must be the reason for falling behind on their mortgage?" Sonia Weech added on Facebook. "A lot of comments about WF people losing their jobs over this, but it was a company supported party, and someone signed off on it. They won't get fired." PHOTOS: NY City Power List Others found similarities from this party to other insensitive depictions. "This, if true, has to be the most disgusting display of insensitive cruelty since American fraternity boys threw blackface-themed and KKK college parties," Robin S. Fletcher commented on Facebook. "For those employees to make fun of people who have lost their homes is disgusting. They think it's funny? At hospital Halloween parties, do employees dress like people who have died in their building? How about insurance companies who deny sick people health insurance, do their employees yuck it up by dressing like sick people?" writes Mary in Texas, in response to the NYT column. "This is the very reason I hate shows like storage wars, operation repo, and the pawn shop show... I don't see what's funny about others misfortune," James Thomas Sr. commented on Facebook. "It's nastier still that several of these photos show youngish, presumably lower-rung employees unctuously clowning for their corporate masters," Daniel Guideracommented on the NYT column. "Whomever is making the millions running this foreclosure mill will one day throw these performing seals to the wolves just as soon as look at them." A Gawker commenter, vinyluwant, also felt the individual people in the photographs are not entirely to blame. "To me, this is a group of people who are pathetically overinvested with their bosses. I don't know how much money the people in those pictures earn, but I'm making a guess that it is nowhere near what their bosses make, and therefore closer to the salaries of the very people they are mocking." As for Baum, the head of the firm told The Buffalo News in a statement Saturday that the photos "obviously were in poor taste." "On behalf of the firm, I sincerely apologize for what happened last year at our Halloween party," he said. While the theme of this year's Halloween bash is as of yet unknown, Baum said the party raised money for the American Red Cross. Related Topics

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Philip K. Dick Family Sues for 'Adjustment Bureau' Film Royalties

Universal Gets the copyright on Philip K. Dick's short story that increased being the film The Adjustment Bureau been modified from existence? The late sci-fi author's trust has punished Media Rights Capital and filmmaker George Nolfi proclaiming they are decreasing to cover roylties within the 2011 film starring Matt Damon since they claim the story influences public domain. The suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in La, claims Nolfi approached the estate in 2001 seeking rights for the Adjustment Team, Dick's 1953 story about several males who "adjust" the lives of standard people. The estate made the decision to license the story inside a "bargain" rate of $25,000 every year, in exchange, Nolfi mentioned he'd make "substantial obligations" for the trust once the movie ever happened. These obligations totalled in to the millions dollars when budget and box office bonuses are thought in, in line with the suit. Eight years later, Nolfi set the film like a writing and pointing vehicle for themselves at Media Rights Capital with Damon starring and Universal Pictures delivering. But monthly following a film was released in March 2011, Nolfi and MRC allegedly mentioned they discovered "an problem while using copyright chain of title for Adjustment Team" the accused now claim allows these to increase the risk for movie without needing to spend the money for trust anything. The suit describes this as theory absurd: "So, despite getting become their the best-selling bargain, accused goal to deny the trust of the side in the deal," the complaint alleges. The trust claims the filmmaker and MRC capitalized on the requirement for Dick's title and talked about a deal in good belief, and for that reason needs to be required to pay back. "Using heavy-handed means, they goal to 'adjust' contracts became a member of into way back when, 'adjust' determinations made way back when with the U.S. Copyright office, in addition to 'adjust' history to be able to hoard every money rightfully acquired with the estate in the guy whose genius inspired what's unquestionably an effective film," the complaint states. The accused are MRC II Distribution Company, MRC Holdings, Oaktree Entertainment, Nolfi and Michael Hackett. Universal is not a defendant. The suit alleges causes of action for breach of contract, money had and received, quantum meruit, illegal enrichment, additionally to declaratory relief regarding copyright rights and rights under contract. We've showed up at to Nolfi reps and MRC for comment. Trust lawyer Justin Goldstein also provides released the following statement: Philip K. Dick's trust and receivers were partners all of the strategies by lending time, support and cooperation through the expansion, production, marketing and relieve "The Adjustment Bureau." Rapidly following a movie was released as well as the money started flowing in, the filmmakers and Media Rights Capital attempted to chop the Trust out entirely, and grab every last dollar by themselves. To justify this greedy move, they are stating that contracts and copyright filings they, their lawyers, and agents examined and approved -- which the U.S. Copyright Office fortunate not once but two occasions -- are really wrong. Regarding the countless fans worldwide from the visionary sci-fi author, it truly saddens us thatthe matter required to achieve this time around. Email: Matthew.Belloni@thr.com Twitter: @THRMattBelloni

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Anton Yelchin on Sex Moments With Jennifer Lawrence and Choosing 'Like Crazy' Over Real-Existence Love

It's amazing to look in a movie like 'Jurassic Park' and discover how good the results endure. The sequences appear almost too ideal for a movie that was released in 1994. For the, audiences can thank Dennis Muren, the visual effects wiz who done the initial two movies inside the series. While using 'Jurassic Park' trilogy released on Blu-ray now, Muren spoke for the L.A. Occasions Hero Complex blog, where he revealed the whole process of making the dinosaurs as realistic as you can, together with the continuing legacy in the first 'Jurassic Park.' It started by helping cover their us thinking, 'Well, maybe we are able to perform dinosaurs inside the distance with computer graphics, and possess Them running and many types of, but never get much closer than wide shots.' But when we i did so it, we just attempted but got more bold, but got closer in it and closer 'til we ended up undertaking a detailed-on the T. rex getting a performance you have never observed before, because you might never have the acting of people animals with animatronics or with fly fishing rod puppets or Muppets or anything. There's just no method it. It absolutely was a genuine real surprise for your audience and ourselves too, once we saw the film which we had people shots. The piece also provides two awesome behind-the-moments videos within the 'JP' Blu-sun sun rays, including interviews while using cast about how precisely their be employed in the film affected the comfort from the careers. Click through to have a look. [via LAT/Hero Complex] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook

'Pretty Soon, It Will All Be Over': Director Roland Emmerich Thinks You're a Lemming

During Game 5 of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers on Monday night, Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa made a series of increasingly unexplainable pitching moves in the eighth inning, which helped contribute to his team's loss. After the game, LaRussa blamed the bizarre changes (sports fans and non-sports fans can read about them here) not on failed strategy, but a faulty bullpen phone. It seems that the Texas crowd was so loud that the Cardinals' bullpen coach had trouble hearing which pitchers LaRussa was asking for when he called down. On ESPN Radio this morning, hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic imagined one reason for the phone disaster: Bullpenfone. Thanks, ESPN? In response, Moviefone checked in with the real Mr. Moviefone to find out what he thought of the incident: "Sounds to me like Tony LaRussa would have been better off dialing up the real Moviefone," he said. "Tony, use your day off to check out 'Moneyball' -- who knows? You might learn something!" Press one, TLR! [via ESPN] [Photo: Getty] Follow Moviefone on Twitter Like Moviefone on Facebook RELATED

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Steve Jobs Tribute Logo Sparks Controversy for Graphic Designer

The revised Apple logo, with Steve Jobs' silhouette in place of the bite mark, found its way to all corners of the news media and the Internet in the wake of the co-founder's Oct 5 passing. But the graphic design student who created it is now fielding accusations of plagiarism. 19-year-old Jonathan Mak Long, who lives in Hong Kong, originally created the black and white image in August as a tribute to Jobs when he stepped down as CEO. And almost just as soon as it went viral, the NY Times reports Mak started being widely accused of copying the concept from British graphic designer Chris Thornley. PHOTOS: Steve Jobs Remembered in Magazine Covers Thornley created a very similar image in May, with a different color and slightly different silhouette. "It's been a very overwhelming experience," Mak tells NYT. "I still attend classes and lessons as usual. But as far as following my assignments, it's been difficult." Mak says he searched extensively to make sure he wasn't copying another design, and even asked readers to point out similarities between his work and any others when he posted it on his blog. VIDEO: Remembering Steve Jobs No one mentioned Thornley's design in any of the comments, and for five weeks the post received little attention. Then Jobs died. "Overnight, my website went from getting 80 responses to tens of thousands," he says. "At first I was very happy." And then people started referring to the other design, with Thornley's wife contacting Mak just three days later. STORY: Apple CEO Tim Cook on Steve Jobs: 'No Words Can Adequately Express Our Sadness' Mr. Thornley, who is receiving treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, released a statement saying he developed his design in May to "celebrate the fact that someone who had cancer was still working, still driving forward and still thinking positively about the future." He also remains diplomatic about Mak's motives, noting that he doesn't think he was aware of the other design. But that hasn't stopped the negative publicity. Mak says the entire experience has taught him to be more cautious. Related Topics Steve Jobs Apple

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Existence Unexpecteds Rafi Gavron Heads to Motherhood

Rafi Gavron Existence Unexpected's Rafi Gavron will guest-star on Motherhood, TV Line reviews.Inside an episode slated to air November. 22, Gavron - who referred to unhealthy-boy boyfriend of Lux (Britt Robertson) round the CW series -- may have Troy Quinn, a problematic like to Rosa Salazar's Zoe, regulations firm coffee girl who's pregnant and considering giving the newborn up for adoption to Erika Christensen's Julia.See the relaxation in the day's news on TVGuide.comFollowing a couple-episode pick-up in September, Parenthood's Season 3 stands at 18 episodes.Aside from his stint on Existence Unforeseen, Gavron has came out in Rome and cases of 24 and CSI: Miami.Motherhood airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on NBC.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Lars Von Trier Releases Public Statement

He'll not be questioned againWell, this is really interesting:Lars vonTrier has launched the next statement."Today at 2pm I had been asked through the Police of North Zealand regarding the charges produced by the prosecution of Grasse in France from August 2011 regarding a potential breach of prohibition in French law against justification of war crimes.""The analysis covers comments made throughout the press conference in Cannes in May 2011. Because of these serious accusations I've recognized that I don't hold the abilities to convey myself positively and that i have therefore made the decision out of this day forth to avoid all public claims and interviews."Lars von TrierAvedøre, 5. October 2011So, it might appear that there's been further fallout from von Trier's questionable joke about as being a Nazi, that they made only at that year's Cannes Film Festival. For additional particulars surrounding that, mind by doing this. And thus, with the potential of prosecution hanging over him, the truly amazing provocateur of world cinema has, possibly naturally, known as it each day. You will see individuals who believe vonTrier is basically getting what he warrants to make that statement in Cannes you will see other people who believe this can be a gross overreaction, which vonTrier will still you can speak his mind on every other subject.Wherever you stand about them, though, it appears that vonTrier makes his last public statement. Will that remain the situation, though?That greatly remains to appear.

Vinessa Shaw Starring in Dark Fairy Tale 'Siren' (Exclusive)

Getty Images Vinessa Shaw is starring in Siren, an indie which marks the directorial debut of feature and TV scribe Jesse Peyronel. Siren is a dark modern romantic fairy tale about a girl with a very unique curse: her scent makes her irresistible to all men. Peyronel wrote the script two years ago and was moved to direct after being inspired by seeing his friends and fellow filmmakers do well at this past year's Sundance with movies such as Sound of my Voice and Like Crazy. The script grew its roots from Peyronel's interest in fairy tales, Greek classics and, intriguingly, comic books. "It's really a grounded intimate look at someone who has a special ability but looked at in a personal way," says Peyronel. "It's takes a more a realistic look at an X-Men-style power." PHOTOS: Kristen Stewart Vs. Lily Collins Projects: Anatomy of a Snow White Smackdown Music and color is playing a strong role in the movie. Peyronel, when casting and staffing the movie, sent out the script with a packet that included not only photos of the look he was going for but also a link to a playlist that could be listened to while reading. He used a color chart to show how the tone of movie shifts from fairy tale to romance to thriller. Rounding out the Siren cast are Rob Kazinsky (Pacific Rim) Bess Wohl (CSI:NY) and Ross Partridge (The Off-Hours). Meg Thomson (dot the i) and Ludo Poppe (Peking Express) of Eccho Media are producing the movie, which is shooting in Massachusetts. Shaw starred with Joaquin Phoenix and Gwyneth Paltrow in James Gray's Two Lovers and counts 3:10 to Yuma and the recent Chris Evans movie Puncture as her credits. Peyronel is repped by Gersh while Shaw is repped by ICM. Joaquin Phoenix

Honing Your Dance-Making Skills in College

Honing Your Dance-Making Skills in College By Lisa Jo Sagolla October 6, 2011 Dancers interested in earning a college degree often struggle with the decision to give up four of their prime performing years to academic studies. Though studying in a college dance program can improve their skills, aspiring performers can just as easily take classes at commercial studios without having to interrupt or delay the start of their professional careers. But for those who want to be choreographers, it's a no-brainer: College is the perfect place to hone your choreographic craft.It Takes a Village "If you're interested in choreography, you absolutely need to go to college," says Louis Kavouras, chair of the dance department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "You not only need to study the craft, but you need the opportunities college provides to workshop your work and the apprenticeship experiences you get from being with other artists who choreograph. As a working professional, a choreographer is a very solitary person. There's not a lot of interface in the dance world for choreographers to get together. Dancers migrate, so they get a lot of pollination, but choreographers need that too. They need to work closely with other choreographers, especially in their developmental stages."UNLV offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance that includes a three-year choreography track. Students take four semesters of solid choreography classes, beginning with Choreography I, which emphasizes improvisation and movement generation. "This class develops their ability to generate new movement, so they're not copying and just going with set steps," Kavouras explains. "That's one of the main reasons for going to college to study choreography. Many of the dances created by young students, or those who haven't studied, just involve them taking steps they've been taught and putting them together into different sequences. They're not really generating new movement material."In the second class, Compositional Forms and Structure, students learn how to create movement phrases and explore the devices and forms used to manipulate and structure choreographic works. The third class requires them to create and analyze longer movement studies, while in Choreography IV they focus on digital medialearning the techniques of sound editing, working with composers, filming dance, and creating dance for video or making videos to use as background for their choreography."That sequence prepares them for two projects classes," says Kavouras, "in which they come in and propose a concept for a dance and then workshop it for an entire semester, bringing in all the elementsscenic design, costumes, lightingand putting them into play for a full presentation."UNLV's curriculum also includes an aesthetics course, which focuses on the philosophies of art, from Plato to modernism. "They explore questions like what is expression?, what is the difference between craft and technique?, and what is it about dance that makes it different from ordinary movement?" Kavouras says. "Thinking about all of that is really important to the choreographer. College also gives choreographers the time they need to develop and work on their craft without having to pay the bills doing it, without having to take any gig that comes along, or choreograph 30 competition numbers for children."According to Kavouras, it's also vital for choreographers to have their work shown: "They need it out there. They need eyes on it. Different eyes, from different cultures even. And they need to interact with work and choreographers from other places. We have an international travel program, where we take students' pieces all over the world. We've taken work to Korea, Germany, and Australia."While UNLV's program focuses primarily on ballet, modern, and jazz, its students are permitted to choreograph in any dance form they know. "The art of choreography transcends dance styles," Kavouras says. "The study of movement generation and the principles of compositional structure apply to any dance form."Takin' It Beyond the Streets Kathryn Daniels, dance department chair at Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts, agrees with Kavouras about the importance of college for choreographers. "If you want to learn to be a choreographer, virtually the only place to do it is within a college setting," she says. "The most you'll get outside of college is maybe a one- or two-week workshop. But to really have the opportunity to learn over time and in a sequentially developed program, you have to go to college."Daniels admits, however, that there are those in the commercial dance industry who might disagree with her: "In the area of music videos, for example, you'll find choreographers who may never have had a dance lesson in their livesthey're essentially street-taught. And they've learned to choreograph on the job. But quite honestly, I think their choreographic skills can be developed beyond that. There are people who might say, 'I have been in 14 Broadway shows, and that's where I polished my craft.' To them I would say, 'Yes, but there's still more you can learn.' "The BFA program in dance at Cornish places a strong emphasis on choreography and includes a six-semester sequence of course work in dance composition. "That's what we call choreography; we borrowed the term from music," Daniels explains. "There is a craft to choreography and specific choreographic tools that can be taught. It involves things like understanding how to move groups of people in space, as well as compositional forms which we again borrow from music, such as ABA, sonata, rondo, and crafting tools such as inversion and canon. There are all sorts of ways of learning to manipulate movement material to generate choreography that feels true and unique to yourself. And in addition to the pedagogical elements, college gives you the chance to practice your art. As a choreographer in a college setting, you have free rehearsal space, dancers available to you, and your work gets fully produced."Co-winner of the 2011 MTV Video Music Award for best choreography for his work on Beyonc's "Run the World (Girls)" music video, choreographer Jeffrey Page is a 2002 graduate of Philadelphia's University of the Arts. "I always made up dances when I was a little boy," he says, "but it wasn't until I got to college that I learned someone could have a full career as a choreographer."Born and raised in Indianapolis, Page started dancing as a child, doing mainly African dance and hip-hop, and then attended a performing arts magnet high school, where he studied ballet, modern, and jazz. "In Indiana, there were very few black dancers," he recalls. "So I was really attracted to the idea of going to college in Philadelphia, because you saw a lot of really good black dancers going to school there and dancing in Philadelphia professionally. It was like a little NY."While in college, where he majored in dance (with an emphasis on jazz dance performance), Page was also able to work as a professional dancer in the city, as well as in NY and Washington, D.C., as both were only a short train ride away and he was given permission to do so by the university's dance department chair. "I worked on 'Soul Possessed' with Debbie Allen in Washington and did 'Black Nativity' here at Freedom Theatre," he says. "And I also danced with Forces of Nature Dance Theatre in New York. Doing all those shows, however, really gave me my fill of dancing, and by the time I graduated, my interest was 100 percent on choreography."Nonetheless, Page went on to dance in "Fela!" on Broadway, after establishing himself as a sought-after choreographer in Los Angeles. He has created dances for television's "So You Think You Can Dance," the NAACP Image Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, and the BET Awards (for which he earned an Emmy nomination), as well as for Beyonc's world tour.As a choreographer, Page thinks in terms of musical structures when designing dances. "I think that's something I got from my college composition classes," he says. "In college I learned that choreography is strategic; it's thought-out, not random. We also did a lot of improv work in college, in order to find material. You play, and you find movement inside of your own mind and body, and I still do that to this day."Time to Create Stephen Koester, chair of the department of modern dance at the University of Utah, says, "A college is a great place for a choreographer to start, particularly in these economic times. You're given the time, the space, the bodies, and the mentorship over a concentrated and long period of time, which is a luxury anywhere outside of academia. Of course, you're paying for it. But the costs, compared to working in the 'real world,' are a lot less. And in a college situation, there's a more generous atmosphere, in which you're able to experiment, to risk, and to fail at times. In the real world, you have to put your work up there and live by it. Here you're almost expected to try things that may not work."The University of Utah offers both BFA and MFA degrees in dance. "Each program has only one track," Koester says. "We don't have a separate choreography track, in the belief that a broad base of study supports whatever it is you're going to do in dance. You learn how to choreograph by teaching, you learn how to teach by being in someone's dance, and you learn how to dance by choreographing. They all support each other and make you a better dance artist no matter what your focus or interest is."According to Koester, despite the lack of a separate choreography track, Utah's programs honor the creative process: "Every student will get either an improvisation or a choreography course every semester that they're at the university. We think of it as of equal importance to the physical practice and the theory of dance. All three areas are equally weighted." All students auditioning for Utah's undergraduate program are required to present a one- to two-minute solo of their own choreography.The University of Utah also offers a summer workshop on choreography and the creative process, which is open to students from other colleges or anywhere else. "It can be taken for credit or not," Koester says. "We bring in outside guest choreographers. Last year we brought in Eiko & Koma" and two other duos. "Our theme was collaborationpairs of choreographers who make work in tandem. This year we're going international and are bringing in choreographers from abroad." The workshop includes three daily sessions: a technique class, a repertory class, and a choreography session in which the guest artists mentor the students in developing their own choreography.Traditionally Liberal For aspiring choreographers who are also interested in acquiring a traditional liberal arts education, Baltimore's Goucher College offers a Bachelor of Arts in dance with eight concentrations, one of which is choreography. "The number and variety of opportunities for a choreographer in a college setting is far greater than they could get in any one place out in the professional dance world," says Elizabeth Lowe Ahearn, chair of the dance department."In our program," she continues, "beyond the composition classes, choreographers get the chance to advance and augment their movement vocabulary by taking technique classes in all the different idioms we offer hereballet, modern, jazz, musical theater, African dance and drumming. They can also take courses in anatomy, music, partneringall of which are really helpful to choreographers. And beyond that, they can expand their general education by taking classes in literature, history, art, mathematics. They can do this all in one location."Goucher's choreography program is focused on allowing students to develop their creative potential by investigating movement concepts and personal ideas in a safe environment over a three-year sequence of classes. "In the course work, they're fostering and developing their personal choreographic voice as they learn tools for how to create and shape movement," Ahearn explains. "And they are being provided with both traditional and untraditional points of view, such as site-specific works, chance forms, or working with sound scores instead of music."While ballet and modern are the foundational techniques on which the program is based, students are encouraged to choreograph in whatever style they like. "As long as they are addressing the question put forth in the composition class assignment, they can create in any idiom," Ahearn says. "If they want to investigate the question in pointe shoes, that's fine, as long as they're addressing the concept at hand. I've had students do studies in tap shoes. We want them to bring their own dance background to their choreographic work."Following completion of their course work, choreography students are expected to do a one-semester independent study or a yearlong senior thesis project. "These are enormous projects," Ahearn continues. "For example, we've had students create site-specific works for the Baltimore Museum of Art. They arranged getting their work installed there; they had to do all the negotiations and contracts, make their own costumes, and do their own publicity. If it's a thesis, there will be an academic component as well. They might have papers to write and will have to defend their work to a jury of professors."Ahearn also stresses the importance of a college program in developing a choreographer's critical eye, as students are asked to observe and comment on one another's choreography. "And looking at, talking, and writing about the works of others," she says, "is sometimes what helps them fully develop their own voices as choreographers." Honing Your Dance-Making Skills in College By Lisa Jo Sagolla October 6, 2011 Dancers interested in earning a college degree often struggle with the decision to give up four of their prime performing years to academic studies. Though studying in a college dance program can improve their skills, aspiring performers can just as easily take classes at commercial studios without having to interrupt or delay the start of their professional careers. But for those who want to be choreographers, it's a no-brainer: College is the perfect place to hone your choreographic craft.It Takes a Village "If you're interested in choreography, you absolutely need to go to college," says Louis Kavouras, chair of the dance department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "You not only need to study the craft, but you need the opportunities college provides to workshop your work and the apprenticeship experiences you get from being with other artists who choreograph. As a working professional, a choreographer is a very solitary person. There's not a lot of interface in the dance world for choreographers to get together. Dancers migrate, so they get a lot of pollination, but choreographers need that too. They need to work closely with other choreographers, especially in their developmental stages."UNLV offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dance that includes a three-year choreography track. Students take four semesters of solid choreography classes, beginning with Choreography I, which emphasizes improvisation and movement generation. "This class develops their ability to generate new movement, so they're not copying and just going with set steps," Kavouras explains. "That's one of the main reasons for going to college to study choreography. Many of the dances created by young students, or those who haven't studied, just involve them taking steps they've been taught and putting them together into different sequences. They're not really generating new movement material."In the second class, Compositional Forms and Structure, students learn how to create movement phrases and explore the devices and forms used to manipulate and structure choreographic works. The third class requires them to create and analyze longer movement studies, while in Choreography IV they focus on digital medialearning the techniques of sound editing, working with composers, filming dance, and creating dance for video or making videos to use as background for their choreography."That sequence prepares them for two projects classes," says Kavouras, "in which they come in and propose a concept for a dance and then workshop it for an entire semester, bringing in all the elementsscenic design, costumes, lightingand putting them into play for a full presentation."UNLV's curriculum also includes an aesthetics course, which focuses on the philosophies of art, from Plato to modernism. "They explore questions like what is expression?, what is the difference between craft and technique?, and what is it about dance that makes it different from ordinary movement?" Kavouras says. "Thinking about all of that is really important to the choreographer. College also gives choreographers the time they need to develop and work on their craft without having to pay the bills doing it, without having to take any gig that comes along, or choreograph 30 competition numbers for children."According to Kavouras, it's also vital for choreographers to have their work shown: "They need it out there. They need eyes on it. Different eyes, from different cultures even. And they need to interact with work and choreographers from other places. We have an international travel program, where we take students' pieces all over the world. We've taken work to Korea, Germany, and Australia."While UNLV's program focuses primarily on ballet, modern, and jazz, its students are permitted to choreograph in any dance form they know. "The art of choreography transcends dance styles," Kavouras says. "The study of movement generation and the principles of compositional structure apply to any dance form."Takin' It Beyond the Streets Kathryn Daniels, dance department chair at Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts, agrees with Kavouras about the importance of college for choreographers. "If you want to learn to be a choreographer, virtually the only place to do it is within a college setting," she says. "The most you'll get outside of college is maybe a one- or two-week workshop. But to really have the opportunity to learn over time and in a sequentially developed program, you have to go to college."Daniels admits, however, that there are those in the commercial dance industry who might disagree with her: "In the area of music videos, for example, you'll find choreographers who may never have had a dance lesson in their livesthey're essentially street-taught. And they've learned to choreograph on the job. But quite honestly, I think their choreographic skills can be developed beyond that. There are people who might say, 'I have been in 14 Broadway shows, and that's where I polished my craft.' To them I would say, 'Yes, but there's still more you can learn.' "The BFA program in dance at Cornish places a strong emphasis on choreography and includes a six-semester sequence of course work in dance composition. "That's what we call choreography; we borrowed the term from music," Daniels explains. "There is a craft to choreography and specific choreographic tools that can be taught. It involves things like understanding how to move groups of people in space, as well as compositional forms which we again borrow from music, such as ABA, sonata, rondo, and crafting tools such as inversion and canon. There are all sorts of ways of learning to manipulate movement material to generate choreography that feels true and unique to yourself. And in addition to the pedagogical elements, college gives you the chance to practice your art. As a choreographer in a college setting, you have free rehearsal space, dancers available to you, and your work gets fully produced."Co-winner of the 2011 MTV Video Music Award for best choreography for his work on Beyonc's "Run the World (Girls)" music video, choreographer Jeffrey Page is a 2002 graduate of Philadelphia's University of the Arts. "I always made up dances when I was a little boy," he says, "but it wasn't until I got to college that I learned someone could have a full career as a choreographer."Born and raised in Indianapolis, Page started dancing as a child, doing mainly African dance and hip-hop, and then attended a performing arts magnet high school, where he studied ballet, modern, and jazz. "In Indiana, there were very few black dancers," he recalls. "So I was really attracted to the idea of going to college in Philadelphia, because you saw a lot of really good black dancers going to school there and dancing in Philadelphia professionally. It was like a little NY."While in college, where he majored in dance (with an emphasis on jazz dance performance), Page was also able to work as a professional dancer in the city, as well as in NY and Washington, D.C., as both were only a short train ride away and he was given permission to do so by the university's dance department chair. "I worked on 'Soul Possessed' with Debbie Allen in Washington and did 'Black Nativity' here at Freedom Theatre," he says. "And I also danced with Forces of Nature Dance Theatre in NY. Doing all those shows, however, really gave me my fill of dancing, and by the time I graduated, my interest was 100 percent on choreography."Nonetheless, Page went on to dance in "Fela!" on Broadway, after establishing himself as a sought-after choreographer in Los Angeles. He has created dances for television's "So You Think You Can Dance," the NAACP Image Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, and the BET Awards (for which he earned an Emmy nomination), as well as for Beyonc's world tour.As a choreographer, Page thinks in terms of musical structures when designing dances. "I think that's something I got from my college composition classes," he says. "In college I learned that choreography is strategic; it's thought-out, not random. We also did a lot of improv work in college, in order to find material. You play, and you find movement inside of your own mind and body, and I still do that to this day."Time to Create Stephen Koester, chair of the department of modern dance at the University of Utah, says, "A college is a great place for a choreographer to start, particularly in these economic times. You're given the time, the space, the bodies, and the mentorship over a concentrated and long period of time, which is a luxury anywhere outside of academia. Of course, you're paying for it. But the costs, compared to working in the 'real world,' are a lot less. And in a college situation, there's a more generous atmosphere, in which you're able to experiment, to risk, and to fail at times. In the real world, you have to put your work up there and live by it. Here you're almost expected to try things that may not work."The University of Utah offers both BFA and MFA degrees in dance. "Each program has only one track," Koester says. "We don't have a separate choreography track, in the belief that a broad base of study supports whatever it is you're going to do in dance. You learn how to choreograph by teaching, you learn how to teach by being in someone's dance, and you learn how to dance by choreographing. They all support each other and make you a better dance artist no matter what your focus or interest is."According to Koester, despite the lack of a separate choreography track, Utah's programs honor the creative process: "Every student will get either an improvisation or a choreography course every semester that they're at the university. We think of it as of equal importance to the physical practice and the theory of dance. All three areas are equally weighted." All students auditioning for Utah's undergraduate program are required to present a one- to two-minute solo of their own choreography.The University of Utah also offers a summer workshop on choreography and the creative process, which is open to students from other colleges or anywhere else. "It can be taken for credit or not," Koester says. "We bring in outside guest choreographers. Last year we brought in Eiko & Koma" and two other duos. "Our theme was collaborationpairs of choreographers who make work in tandem. This year we're going international and are bringing in choreographers from abroad." The workshop includes three daily sessions: a technique class, a repertory class, and a choreography session in which the guest artists mentor the students in developing their own choreography.Traditionally Liberal For aspiring choreographers who are also interested in acquiring a traditional liberal arts education, Baltimore's Goucher College offers a Bachelor of Arts in dance with eight concentrations, one of which is choreography. "The number and variety of opportunities for a choreographer in a college setting is far greater than they could get in any one place out in the professional dance world," says Elizabeth Lowe Ahearn, chair of the dance department."In our program," she continues, "beyond the composition classes, choreographers get the chance to advance and augment their movement vocabulary by taking technique classes in all the different idioms we offer hereballet, modern, jazz, musical theater, African dance and drumming. They can also take courses in anatomy, music, partneringall of which are really helpful to choreographers. And beyond that, they can expand their general education by taking classes in literature, history, art, mathematics. They can do this all in one location."Goucher's choreography program is focused on allowing students to develop their creative potential by investigating movement concepts and personal ideas in a safe environment over a three-year sequence of classes. "In the course work, they're fostering and developing their personal choreographic voice as they learn tools for how to create and shape movement," Ahearn explains. "And they are being provided with both traditional and untraditional points of view, such as site-specific works, chance forms, or working with sound scores instead of music."While ballet and modern are the foundational techniques on which the program is based, students are encouraged to choreograph in whatever style they like. "As long as they are addressing the question put forth in the composition class assignment, they can create in any idiom," Ahearn says. "If they want to investigate the question in pointe shoes, that's fine, as long as they're addressing the concept at hand. I've had students do studies in tap shoes. We want them to bring their own dance background to their choreographic work."Following completion of their course work, choreography students are expected to do a one-semester independent study or a yearlong senior thesis project. "These are enormous projects," Ahearn continues. "For example, we've had students create site-specific works for the Baltimore Museum of Art. They arranged getting their work installed there; they had to do all the negotiations and contracts, make their own costumes, and do their own publicity. If it's a thesis, there will be an academic component as well. They might have papers to write and will have to defend their work to a jury of professors."Ahearn also stresses the importance of a college program in developing a choreographer's critical eye, as students are asked to observe and comment on one another's choreography. "And looking at, talking, and writing about the works of others," she says, "is sometimes what helps them fully develop their own voices as choreographers."

WB hops on Bridge Direct

The Bridge Direct has showed up the planet master toy and game certification rights for Warner Bros.' "The Hobbit" films, helmed by Healing For Healing For Peter Jackson. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based company can make figures, playsets and role-play add-ons like swords and fight axes designed across the figures and props inside the photos, while using first merchandise striking store shelves just before the 12 ,. 14, 2012, relieve "The Hobbit: An Unforeseen Journey." Follow-up "The Hobbit: There and AgainInch is skedded for 12 ,. 13, 2013. Retail partners will probably be proven the initial kind of products inside the future. While numerous companies were competing for your "Hobbit" deal, Warner Bros. Consumer Products granted the license to Bridge Direct thinking about the very fact that many its professionals and staffers tried developing and marketing products connected with New Line's "Our god in the Rings" franchise while at other toymakers including Toy Biz and Play Along. Toys connected with WB's films and tv shows are often produced by Mattel. Bridge Direct, run by toy biz vet Jay Foreman, is much better recognized for its "Zhu Zhu Pets" kind of plush, figures and playsets, "Bobby Jack" toys and novelties, "Busytown" automobiles and playsets as well as the Attacking Youthful Boys dolls. "Due to the majority of the same creative minds behind 'The Our god in the Rings' trilogy products, we're searching toward unveiling a powerful toy line for your two films that captures the excitement in the beloved adventure and delights loyal fans in the series," mentioned Karen McTier, professional V . p . of domestic certification and worldwide marketing for Warner Bros. Consumer Products. Contact Marc Graser at marc.graser@variety.com

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

BREAKING! MPTFs Acute Care Cope With Providence Health & Services Doesn't Happen

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve got confirmation of the items I’ve suspected since September fourth: the Film And Tv Fund’s pact for Providence Health & Services California to consider within the acute care hospital and intensive care assisted living facilities isn't any more. That’s right, the offer has fallen through whose existence I scooped in on Feb 23rd, after which introduced with your fanfare, known as forProvidenceto broaden and expand health care services towards the entertainment industryon the storied Wasserman Campus in Woodland Hillsides. However, an MPTF insider informs me tonight there’s a “better alternative” in route which any gossips concerning the facilities “closing [are] not the case”. I understand that several major Hollywood moguls happen to be but still will work behind-the-moments to try to keep servicingacute care patients. But by now, employees and staff from the hospital started telling family people the Providence deal has flattened and there's nothing in position to help keep it open. So essentially the MPTF is in exactly the same mess it had been beginning last year once the first announcement is made concerning the MPTF’s decision to shut its acute care hospital and intensive care assisted living facilities simply because they were losing $ten million annually. This grew to become an enormous Hollywood story with major implications for everybody who considered the MPTF his or her back-up in occasions of sickness and senior years. Also it underscored how, with the enormous wealth in showbiz, the community couldnt or wouldnt take care of its much better than this. I realize the grassroots activists who fought against so difficult and lengthy to help keep the facilities from shuttering haven't been formally told yet relating to this terrible development. Who's offered by continuing to keep this secret? Definitely not the patients or their family members. The connection with Providence resulted in that MPTF could continue supplying lengthy-term care services on its campus, putting aside its closure announcement. During the time of the announcement, associates explained, It couldnt be considered a better scenario. This news came around the eve from the Film & Television Fund Fundamentals ninth Annual Evening Before Pre-Oscar Fundraising event located by Jeffrey Katzenberg, chairman from the MPTF Foundation Board. Additionally, it adopted a California Department Of Public Health inspection from the Film & Television Funds skilled nursing facility completed on June 4, 2010, stating the MPTF for privileges violations and repair failures. And came following the forced resignation of Dr. David Tillman, MPTFs leader and leader, and the alternative through the more responsible and conciliatory Bob Beitcher. And let’s remember time of bad publicity for pretty much everybody involved in the MPTF due to protests by groups like Saving The Lives That Belongs To Them to make sure that the entertainment industrys commitment of Being Careful in our Own remains unbroken now as well as for future decades just as when it had been founded in 1921 by Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and D.W. Griffith to assist showbiz individuals who fell on hard occasions. And recent weak Hollywood Guild contracts using the galleries and systems may have caused by slowly destroying more people of the middle-class livelihoods and imperiling their own health and pension benefits to ensure that later on much more stress is going to be placed on MPTF infrastructure. Back on November 24th, I reported that MPTFs lately installed Leader/Boss Bob Beitcher was attempting to effect an agreement and was told chances are favoring a face-saving yet real solution for that LTC along with a major capital campaign, on the ongoing war of attrition and negative PR. So a dialoguewas ongoing between Beitcher, Film and tv Fund Foundation Boss Ken Scherer, and MPTF moguls. It had been 2 yrs ago, that with no warning the shocking announcement is made the MPTFs acute care hospital and long-term care elderly care were losing $ten million annually which the shortfall was likely to widen considerably in future years. Reported because the problem could be that the huge most of hospital and LTC patients are handled by government insurance programs whose compensation rates haven't stored pace with fast-rising operating costs. So MPTF have been creating the shortfall by sinking into its investment reserves. But, according to its forecasts, ongoing to subsidize a healthcare facility and LTC facility may likely exhaust available reserves within 5 years. About 100 retired people then resided in MPTFs acute-care facilities. Consequently from the planned phase-outs, individuals patients may be moved during the period of 2009 to selected MPTF and Providence wished to accomplish definitive contracts later this season, detailing each partys roles and duties. Any final agreement could have been susceptible to Board and regulating home loan approvals. However the deal never closed. During the time of the announcement, Beitcher stated you will find only those who win here, including our lengthy-term care citizens”. Without another offer place with care providers, seems like you will find only nonwinners now.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

EU ruling threatens int'l TV biz

LONDON -- In a landmark ruling for the broadcasting industry, Europe's highest court has ruled that U.K. sports fans can watch live sports matches on cheaper foreign decoders. The ruling, which centers around Brit pub landlady Karen Murphy who, five years ago, started using Greek firm Nova via a decoder to show Premier League soccer games to her customers, is likely to trigger wider ramifications for all broadcast rights holders in Blighty and the EU. Murphy paid around 8,000 ($12,300) in fines and costs because she used a foreign satellite TV provider to showcase Brit soccer games rather than going through U.K. pay TV outlet BSkyB, which paid more than $1.54 billion for the rights to Premier League soccer matches. Murphy appealed the case to the European court of justice, which ruled on Tuesday that the Football Assn. Premier League cannot prevent individuals from looking for better deals for TV sports subs from European broadcasters. The court found that the sale of rights on a country-by-country basis broke the EU law. While increased competition could strike good news for consumers and pub landlords across Blighty, the ramifications for rights holders, content producers and broadcasters could be damaging. For instance, movies that are currently released in specific chronological windows in each country due to exclusive territorial licensing could see the erasure of a territory-by-territory distribution structure via television. Exclusive territoriality allows broadcasters to tailor content locally to suit local consumer demand in a given country or region. The destruction of this model could lead to fewer broadcasters. Writing in U.K. newspaper The Times, Stephen Garrett, chairman of Kudos Film and TV and exec chairman of Shine Pictures, expressed why the content industry had reason to worry. "We finance our productions by selling rights on a territory by territory basis, a strategy that self-evidently only works if it is exclusive," he said. "An episode of 'Spooks' costs around 1 million ($1.54 million) to produce and employs hundreds of people. High quality entertainment is not cheap and as a producer, Kudos has effectively to mortgage these territorial rights in order to secure the upfront funding to make the show in the first place. "The incentive for broadcasters to make this investment is the guarantee that they will be the only one screening the film on their turf when it is released, which means maximum ratings and advertising revenues. Without it why would they bother to invest?" He added that the ruling could see smaller companies "squeezed out of the market." "Broadcasters would find themselves forced to buy more rights than they need in order to secure the ones that they really want, creating a fictitious and fundamentally unsustainable market for unwanted rights. Only the biggest broadcasting companies could afford to play such a game, fuelling concentration detrimental to media pluralism and competition." However, as sporting events have no intellectual properties while theatrical performances do, it is still unclear how this ruling will play out to the wider broadcasting industry. Currently, the cost of individual subscriptions for BSkyB's sports package is not hugely more expensive than its European counterparts and a foreign subscription will of course be susceptible to localized content with any English language pics or TV programs subtitled or dubbed accordingly. Contact Diana Lodderhose at diana.lodderhose@variety.com

Watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2010

Monday, September 26, 2011

Ex-Mobster: John Travolta Isn't Man Enough To Play John Gotti

“For John Gotti Sr, you need a man’s man to play that role,” critiqued former mobster Lewis Kasman about John Travolta’s casting in the upcoming crime-boss biopic from Barry Levinson. “He’s a thug, so you need someone who’s a thug… a guy who grew up in that life.” Apparently, Travolta’s Oscar-nominated Saturday Night Fever performance doesn’t hold much weight among the mob set either: “John Gotti Sr. never danced a dance in his life.” [Daily Mail]

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Smurfs 3D Passes $500 Million Worldwide

Hollywood never expected The Smurfs 3D to become such a box office phenom. Even though the studioalways had confidence in the franchise.Sony Pictures just announced that The Smurfs has grossed an estimated $12.9M for the weekend overseas, bringingthe international cume to $364.4M and pushing the worldwide cume over thehalf-billion mark to an estimated $502.8 million.Sure, its easy to look down your nose at The Smurfs, butit was brought in out of turnaround from Paramount by no less than Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman/CEO Michael Lynton. Animation was overseen by Bob Osher and Hannah Minghella (who is now president of production for Sonys Columbia Pictures) while live action was shepherded by Doug Belgrad. Marketing was taken in hand by Jeff Blake and Marc Weinstock.The cartoon first launched in Europe in 1958 so the pic was tracking well overseas after Global Smurfs Day was organized by Sony and McDonalds planned the years largest global campaign in over 30,000 restaurants.In Spain, a village volunteered to paint their entire town Smurf blue. And Smurf fans set a new Guinness world record for the largest gathering of people dressed as the little blue guys within a 24-hour period in multiple venues. Look, I dont get the appeal of garden gnomes or troll dolls or Smurfs for that matter. They creep me out. But the little blue guys were first drawn by Belgian artist Pierre Peyo Culliford for a comic book. The Schtroumpfs, as they were initially called, have lasted 50 years and generated comics, books, television series, films, videogames, live shows, and figurines. The Smurfs movie also took a long time to come to the Big Screen. In 1980, the late (and great) Brandon Tartikoff developed the Hanna-Barbera show on NBC for Saturday mornings. It ran 8 years. In 1997, producer Jordan Kerner sent the first of a series of letters to Lafig, the licensing agent for the Smurfs brand, as a first step to making a movie. And in 2002, after seeing Kerners adaptation of E.B. Whites Charlottes Web, Peyos heirs gave the OK.

Watch Transformers 3 2010

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Haley Ramm synchs with 'Disconnect'

Haley Ramm, the youthful star of MTV's "Worst. Promenade. Ever.," remains cast as Jason Bateman's daughter inside the indie drama "Disconnect," that's being produced by Liddell Entertainment and Wonderful Films. Henry-Alex Rubin ("Murderball") is pointing from Andrew Stern's script, which follows a substantial ensemble of figures that are affected -- and possibly destroyed -- online together with other kinds of modern communication. Ramm may have a common but self-absorbed secondary school student whose youthful brother falls victim to have an online hoax perpetrated by a few his childhood friends. Furthermore to Bateman, pic stars Alexander Skarsgard, Paula Patton, Frank Grillo, Andrea Riseborough, Colin Ford and Michael Nyqvist. Mickey Liddell and Marc Forster are coming up with "Disconnect" along with William Horberg and Jennifer Hilton. Ramm, repped by Wendi Niad of Niad Management, recently starred in Anthony Burns' "Skateland" and came out in Kevin Smith's "Red-colored-colored Condition." She formerly carried out youthful Jean Grey in Brett Ratner's "X-Males: The Ultimate Stand." Contact Rob Sneider at rob.sneider@variety.com

Cheers & Jeers: Why Does not Everyone Love The Center?

Ray Romano, Patricia Heaton Cheers towards the Middle for showing it goes towards the top of the sitcom pack. Want more Cheers & Jeers? Sign up for TV Guide Magazine now! The ABC comedy's Wednesday stablemate Modern Family won Emmys in each and every qualified category over the past weekend, while Patricia Heaton's Indiana clan did not earn just one nomination. What is? Maybe since the show happens in the center of the nation (hence the title) and focuses on a classic-fashioned nuclear family, it isn't considered edgy enough for Emmy. However The Middle is evenly as funny, well-behaved - and modern - as Family. The 3rd-season opener wittily reunited Heaton together with her Everyone Loves Raymond husband Ray Romano, who guested inside a flashback as Mike's nudnik ex-high-school classmate who nearly destroyed his honeymoon with Heaton's Frankie. In one of many clever in-jokes, Romano told Heaton, "You realize, within an alternate world, we could've been happy together." As well as in another alternate world, the Emmys could've gone mad for that Middle and Romano's Males of the Certain Age, and that i would have been happy. Would you love The Center?

'Charlie's Angels' Finds Home in Miami

MIAMI (AP) Miami might be the brand new capital of scotland - angels no less than the city of "Charlie's Angels."ABC is jumping into the reboot game this fall by getting an up-to-date version in the classic series that starts the network's Thursday evening prime-time selection. Moving its setting and production from La to Florida, the completely new show will receive a new beginning in the new city.The remake tries to distance itself within the camping in the seventies version, striving to become more grounded action series. The initial episode begins with two Angels a classic crook carried out by Rachael Taylor together with a disgraced officer carried out by Annie Ilonzeh seeing the next part of their team destroyed within a mission. Their boss Charlie Townsend and also the assistant Bosley carried out by Ramon Rodriguez persuade the kids to recruit a completely new Angel, a street racer carried out by Minka Kelly.With Came Barrymore an Angel inside the 2000 and 2003 films being a professional producer, the show was produced by Al Gough and Miles Millar, the duo behind the hit WB show "Smallville," which adopted the exploits from the youthful, pre-Superman Clark Kent. ABC happen to be prone to restore "Charlie's Angels" for quite a while when Gough and Millar got involved last spring.They acknowledge that fans have certain anticipation and may scream once they aren't met. The first "Charlie's Angels" will be a cultural phenomenon if the first demonstrated in 1976, making stars of Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Cruz. Fawcett shown particularly popular, with boys posting her legendary poster inside their rooms and ladies copying her feathered hair. The initial episode in the new "Charlie's Angels" is scheduled to air at 8 p.m. EDT Thursday, the 35th anniversary in the original's premiere."If you say you'll probably reboot Charlie's Angels, you're simply hanging a sizable target laying lying on your back,In . Gough mentioned. "What to do ideally is reunite by getting a crowd that loved the show after they were youthful in addition to bring new fans in it.InchHowever the brand new show starts fresh: These Angels aren't saints. Inside the original, the women had all taught to become L.A. cops but sexism inside the department had left them banished to menial positions, so Charlie employed them really was detectives. Inside the new series, the Angels all have sketchy pasts. Charlie recruits these to give them another chance, while using the capabilities they developed as crooks to accomplish good."They're type of Angels with dirty faces," Gough mentioned.Taylor mentioned she and her co-stars want toward placing modern twist round the mythology."Even though they were very awesome and effective, we wish to do our personal version," Taylor mentioned.According to Ilonzeh, the chemistry among the different figures is what drove the old series as well as the movies."The knowledge as well as the cases as well as the crooks as well as the explosions and many types of the sparks as well as the glamour as well as the fashion as well as the makeup, people are merely the additional supplies," Ilonzeh mentioned. "But it's the bond that's really prone to grab everyone."The completely new show promises plenty of action, but producers are trying to obtain a more realistic feel, departing the gravity repel "Wire Fu" acrobatics featured inside the films."We perform a little of all things,Inch stunt coordinator Artie Malesci mentioned. "We're round the water. We're under water. We've watercraft. We've helis. All of us perform some vehicle work. We perform a lot of fighting. We perform a lot of gun play. We perform a lot of scaling structures."The heavens do the majority of the stunts themselves, Malesci mentioned."They train a good deal,In . he mentioned. "I realize them adequate to understand what they could do and whatever they can't do. There's a particular point where I believe that no, and so they hate that."Kelly mentioned doing the stunts is among her favorite causes of the show."I like my job. I like just as one actor," Kelly mentioned. "But if you are dealing with visit and be physical and learn how to drift cars and scuba dive and horseback ride and learn to fight Krav Maga (an Israeli fighting styles technique). People are things I'll have with me at night for your relaxation of my existence."Filming extensively in Florida through the summer time season doesn't come without its problems. On one recent shoot a daytime fashion show scene inside a downtown park the heavens hid within an aura-conditioned van between takes to obtain their makeup from melting. Meanwhile, a lot of accessories looked for shade and fans, attempting to not sweat through their formal placed on.Nevertheless included in the completely new show is Charlie's speakerphone, where the unseen maestro notifies his Angels regarding new missions. Gough mentioned one challenge was creating reasonable to take advantage from it inside the reboot."Charlie's around the box, around the speakerphone, which in 1976 was possibly the peak of technology," Gough mentioned. "This Season, less. You've Skype. You've video chat. Why guy still around the box?"While Charlie ongoing to become a mysterious inside the original series too as with the two films, Gough mentioned audiences will discover much more about him inside the new series and possibly why he's so secretive.Bosley may also be acquiring a larger role."Inside the old series, Bosley felt like the girls' valet, which we didn't might like to do that," Gough mentioned.The completely new Bosley is closer to the Angels in age and even more mixed up in missions."He's basically the fourth Angel," Gough mentioned.Rodriguez mentioned he was surprised when he was approached to fill the role, formerly held by David Doyle, Bill Murray and Bernie Mack.Not just comedy relief, Bosley now hacks personal computers and beats up crooks, while hiding their very own shady past."He's certainly got a good deal happening,Inch Rodriguez mentioned."Charlie's Angels" is ABC's first large work for balance remaking a substantial series. The practice may appear a guaranteed recipe for fulfillment, but also for every "Battlestar Galactica" or "Hawaii Five-," there's a "Bionic Lady" or "Dark evening Driver" that died throughout its first season. Gough mentioned CBS's "Hawaii Five-" is a good instance of mixing fun figures, exciting action moments and wonderful locations one for his "Charlie's Angels."Part of achieving people beautiful locations for "Charlie's Angels" was filming the show in Miami instead of La the initial network scripted show to film full-amount of time in Florida since "Miami Vice" left in 1989. Florida gets the designer and cultural diversity of NY, the nice cozy weather and wonderful beaches of los angeles, which is a gateway to Latin America as well as the Caribbean."If you come lower here, you're feeling it," executive producer and director Marcos Siega mentioned. "You will discover plenty of South Us citizens, plenty of Males and ladies. In my opinion the city itself felt being an exciting change."Copyright 2011 Connected Press. All rights reserved. These elements is probably not launched, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.